Caisson



UNITED STATES P TENT QFFICE.

MAX MALBOUHAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAISSON.

.ZBPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,498, dated October 20, 1885.

Serial No. 145,068. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAX llIALBOUHAN, a subject of the Emperor of Austria, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gaissons; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to the class of devices used in founding and building structures and excavating below the surface of water; and it is my object to provide a caisson which shall be easy to operate, comparatively inexpensive and easy to construct, and by means of which the work to be performed within it may be done by the workmen under the natural atmospheric pressure, and thus enable them to work continuously without inconvenience or unnatural exhaustion.

To this end my invention consists in the particular construction of a device for the above purpose and in certain details of the construction and combinations of parts there of, all as hereinafter fully set forth.

Although my invention will afford itsgreatest advantages when formed of wood, as will be readily understood from the description hereinafter set forth,l do not intend to limit myself to anyparticular material of which to construct my device, since, if constructed of other suitable material-such as sheet-iron, for example and in any desired form different from that shown,the principal feature of myinvention viz., that of the chamber, above referred to, which is designed to receive water to sink and anchor the caisson, which water is withdrawn from the chamber to permitthe device to rise may still be provided.

111 the drawings, Figure 1 is a ground plan view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 2, having a portion of the walls removed to show the manner of constructing the foundation or base of the device; and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of my device in elevation, having one portion disconnected to illustrate a preferred manner of construction.

It has hitherto been the most usual custom to employ caissons which act upon the principle of the diving-bell, the pressure of air in the chamber occupied by the workmen being equal to the surrounding waterat the depth to which they are submerged, although one form of caisson is known to me which comprises a cylindrical shell of sheetiron inwardly braced from the center by braces and staves, and formed, presumably, to a height sufficient to extend, when sunk, above the surface of the water. The caisson referred to is sunk and maintained in its position by anchors connected with the device, and intended to engage with the stratum of hard material below the bed underneath the water.

As hereinbel'ore snggested,the form ofcaisson operated on the principle of the diving-bell is objectionable, inasmuch as the workmen are obliged to labor under a very great pressure of air, which soon produces exhaustion, thus preventing them from working continuously for more than a comparatively short length of time.

I overcome the difficulties ordinarly encountered in the employment of caissons, and the objections connected with the use of those known to me hitherto to have been employed, by a construction of caisson of which the following is a description.

Ais a shell formed, preferably, of wood and of quadrangular shape. It comprises the outer wall, B, and inner wall, O, having a chamber, D, between them, which is closed at one end of the device. I

In constructing the caisson the foundation is laid or base formed by placing braces t in inwardly-projecting oblique positions from the ground and securing them together. The walls B are formed by nailing together boards of the class known as siding, to extend upward from the braces it near their upper and lower extremities and form the sides of the device, employing, to provide the requisite thickness, a desired number of boards, 7', of which three nailed flatwise together are shown in the drawings to be used, having the middle ones placed in the manner shown, to cover the cracks which would otherwise extend through the wall between the series of boards, each series, of which there are as many as are required to produce the desired height of the caisson, comprising three boards nailed flatwise together. On each side of the wall B, transversely to the boards 1', heavy timbers q are provided to increase the stability of the wall. The wall 0 is formed in a manner corresponding in every particular with the. construction of the wall B, extending upward from the upper sides toward the inner extremities of the braces t, an oblique floor, E, being provided between the walls B and G by filling in with boards resting upon their lower edges across the braces 16, and covered upon their upper edges with a suitable substance to render the bottom water-tight. The walls B and O are held together by means of bolts 0, passing transversely through both. To afford additional support for the wall 0, and prevent the strain upon them when the chamber D is filled with water for the purpose of sinking the device, as herei uafter described, from causiugthe floor E and inner wall to collapse in a downward direction, truss-work n is provided formed ot'iron rods, extending obliquely across the chamber D. and connected together upon the inner upright braces, q, of the Walls.

To support the structure and afford the necessary resistance to the surrounding water when the device is submerged, additional strength is provided in the device by the polygonally-arranged braces m, secured to the inner sides of the wall 0 in a manner to leave unobstructed the main central portion of the interior of the shell A.

If a caisson of comparatively small dimensions is required-one, say, ofa height of about twenty feetit may be constructed as a whole upon dry land, near the water in which it is to be used, and readily launched'and floated. \Vhen, however, caissons of greater heights are to be used, I prefer to construct them, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, in sections, having tongues Z on one end and recesses Z upon the opposite end, to enable them to be fitted together, when they may be secured to each other by means of bolts and braces, as shown at x in Fig. 1.

When launched the caisson or sections of a caisson may be readily moved to the spot over which the device is to be sunk, to'efi'ect which water is pumped into the chamber D. The weight of the water within this chamber will cause the comparatively sharp edge on the lower extremity of the device, provided with a cushion, is, of soft material (a bag filled with straw, for example) to penetrate into the mud of the bed and gravel underneath. If the device is formed in sections in" the manner hereinbefore described, the sections are adj usted upon each other before water is pumped into the-chamber D for the purpose of sinkingthe device. This sectional construction of long caissons, besides having the advantagev of ease in handling hereinbefore set forth, affords another advantage in its removal after having built a pier or other foundatioirwithin it, since, on removing the water from the chamber D to permit the deviceto rise, in-] stead of having to lift an exceedingly un wieldy object over the top of the pier, if built to extend above or within a short distance below the surface of the water, section after section may be removed and the last easily lifted over. i

When the device shall have been sunk in the manner above 7 described, the water is pumped from the central chamber of the caisson. This operation will cause some of the external water to force its way underneath the caisson into the central chamber, thereby loosening the mud underneath the device and upon which it rests, and causing it to sink still farther until the rocky bed is reached, when the cushion is will operate to prevent the ingress of water. In case these precautions shall still permit any waterto enter the shell calking can be resorted to.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A caisson formed with an outer wall, B, and an inner wall, 0, separated from each other by a chamber, D, the inner wall having its lower extremity supported to lie above that of the outer wall, an oblique bottom, E, for the chamber, and a cushion secured upon the vertex of the angle formed by the junction of the oblique bottom and outer wall, substantially as described.

2. A caisson formed with an outer wall, B, and an inner wall, 0, separated from each other by a chamber, 1), the inner wall having its lower extremitysupported to lie above that of the outer wall, an oblique bottom, E, for. the. said chamber, and braces arranged polygonally on the inner side of the inner wall to provide an unobstructed vertical central opening through the device, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

3. Awooden caisson,comprising outer walls, B,and inner walls,O,supported upon an oblique base and having a chamber, D, between them, and provided with a bottom, E, said walls being formed of series of boards i, secured together fiatwise in a manner to cause the cracks between any two series to be closed, and strengthened on both sides by heavy timbers q, bolted to lie transversely across the-said boards, and by truss-work to within the said chamber, braces m, arranged polygonally on' the 'inner sides of the said inner walls to strengthen the device and provide an unobstructed Vertical central opening through it, and a cushion, 70, secured upon the lower edges of the said outer walls, the. whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

MAX MALBOUHAN.

In presence of- DOUGLAS DYRENFORTH, MASON BROSS.

ICO 

